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Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!uwvax!astroatc!vidiot!brown
From: brown@vidiot.UUCP (Vidiot)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.open-look,comp.lang.postscript
Subject: Re: Update on SPARCprinter/NeWSprint resolution problem
Message-ID: <1593@vidiot.UUCP>
Date: 9 Apr 91 05:26:00 GMT
References: <41@ftms.UUCP> <1991Apr8.162224.4441@beaver.cs.washington.edu>
Reply-To: brown@vidiot.UUCP (Vidiot)
Organization: Vidiot's Hangout
Lines: 35

In article <1991Apr8.162224.4441@beaver.cs.washington.edu> pauld@cs.washington.edu (Paul Barton-Davis) writes:
<In article <41@ftms.UUCP> brown@ftms.UUCP (Vidiot) writes:
<>Having a SPARCprinter verses a PostScript printer engine will allow for
<>improvements without having to change the hardware.  I do like the idea
<>of having the PostScript being software driven instead of hardware driven
<>and look forward to the improvements. 
<
<one nit-picking detail - all PostScript systems thus far are software
<driven. The only different about the Sun system is that the software
<runs on the host, rather than on a processor installed in the laser
<engine. If you were using 386/AT systems, there are and have been for
<some time, a number of these type of systems available. How well they
<work depends on what you wanted to do with them, but its worth noting
<that some of the faster PostScript implementations are still done in
<this way (Birmy, and the YARC/Pipeline implementations being two
<cases in point).

I'll nit your pick.  Yes, the PostScript that is in printers like the Apple
LaserWriter series is done with software.  BUT, when put into the printer,
it is firmware, not as hard as the printer itself, not as soft as a program
on a hard disk, but firm, as in an PROM device.  Being firmware makes it
more difficult to change.  If one isn't a hardware type engineer, one doesn't
change the ROM set.  With the NeWSprint setup, the PostScript interpreter is
soft and easily changed with an update tape.

In the UNIX world, the only choice has been physical printers with the Post-
Script built in firmware.  With the NeXT, the PostScript was changed to soft-
ware.  Now, with the Sun, it too has been changed to software.

I've known of boards for the PC, but don't they have the PostScript on an
PROM as well?
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